Shotton 12 pts, Rhyl 2nds 10 pts
Keith
and were forced to play captain and scrumhalf Keith Jones and centre
Mark Prime at prop forward. With a welcome return to rugby of ex-youth
starlet Grant Salisbury and the inclusion of Dave Hassett and Brendon
Jones in the squad, Rhyl had the luxury of replacements.
They made a dream start against what is always a very robust and
resilient side, when scrum half Steve Hargrave and standoff Erik Lloyd
combined to release full back Keith Gains into space. Although the full
back's powerful run was stopped short, it was Keith Jones who popped
up in support to latch on to an excellent offload and drive over for a
try.
The wind was playing havoc with the attempts of both sides to run the
ball and it didn't really help kicking matters either as it blew in a
squally manner across the pitch. Shotton's basic game plan, as ever,
was "crash and bash" as they used their big centres to run at the
man but Rhyl's defence was superb with centres Chris Fell-Crook and
Gwyn Thomas putting in the tackles.
In the meantime Rhyl played a patient game, with debutant Tom Jones,
son of ex-player Mel, showing all the guile and determination of his
dad as he roamed tirelessly around the field. Second row pairing Greg
Gibbs and Chris Lee also showed up well, with Gibbs coping well on his
comeback from a hamstring injury. The home side seemed likely to sneak
a try when a stray loose ball gave their centre the chance to run into
space and off towards the line. But Keith Gains, suffering from the
effects of flu, made a superb run back and caught the player just short
of the try line to save a certain try.
Rhyl then went on the offensive, with Erik Lloyd varying his game. From
a scrum in the Shotton '22' Hargrave broke blind and fed Lloyd. A
jink here and a shimmy there and the mercurial standoff was through the
defence and scoring Rhyl's second try for a halftime lead of 10-0.
Rhyl were looking good value for the victory but Shotton slogged away
up front. With Rhyl playing three backs in the forwards it was no
surprise that the home side kept things tight and tried to maul their
way upfield. Having said that, Rhyl's resilience was excellent and
although the wind made the lineout a lottery, Gibbs won some good ball,
aided by Sean Austerby, who tidied up well whilst playing in the
unfamiliar number 8 position.
Shotton grabbed a try from a scrum pickup and then with five minutes
remaining and Rhyl's defence looking as solid as ever, a speculative
chip ahead bounced awkwardly and evaded the Rhyl defence but not the
onrushing Shotton winger who gratefully grasped the ball and scored his
side's second try. The well-hit conversion gave Shotton the lead and
despite some creative running from Warren Eccleston, Jamie Bickerstaff
and Dave Hassett, Rhyl could not quite conjure up a third score to
snatch the game back.